As I was making this all I could think was: I am actually eating (okay, drinking) chocolate in the morning. Chocolate before 9am- what is happening?! Even when I was younger I quickly developed a distinct dislike of chocolate themed breakfasts: cocoa pops, pain au chocolat...nope, they didn't cut it. I wanted porridge. I was a strange child.
But even I enjoyed this smoothie. The little pop of coffee and the refreshing mint stops this from being too sickly, and it tastes more like cocoa than the milk left over from the cloying, sugary variety pack cereals of your childhood. On the other hand, if you're a hardened chocolate-before-9am sort of person, you can drink this when you jump out of bed- with all of the flavour, and none of the guilt of downing a Frappuccino or some such beverage.
The recipe is suitable for vegetarians and vegans, the soya milk is low in saturated fat and a source of protein, the coffee gives you a bit of a caffeine buzz, there's potassium from to the banana, and the cinnamon can both help to regulate your blood sugar and speed up the metabolism. Sounds good right? Well, it tastes even better.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup chocolate soya milk
- 1/2 cup very cold water
- 1tsp instant coffee + 1tsp cold water
- Pinch of cinnamon
- 1 banana, sliced into coins and frozen overnight
- Fresh mint leaves, at least 8-10 large leaves, rubbed between your hands to bruise them and then finely chopped (that sounds way more violent than I intended)
Method
- Place the banana coins into a blender, and blend until they begin to take on a smooth texture.
- At this point add in the coffee, the cinnamon, and half of the mint leaves. Blend again, until these ingredients are incorporated.
- Now, add the soya milk and blend once again, followed by the remaining mint leaves and the water.
- Blend, blend, blend- until the smoothie is of that luxurious, creamy consistency suitable for a drink with a name like a 'minty mocha smoothie'...
- Enjoy!
Labels: chocolate, coffee, Drinks, easy breakfast, healthy drinks, mint, mocha, smoothie, vegan, vegetarian
